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“I already want to eat you,” Nox responded with a mischievous smirk. “Just not the way you probably meant.”
I could feel my cheeks start to burn with embarrassment, and I pulled the fluffy collar of my robe over my chin to hide my pink face just as Nox came to my side and slid an arm firmly around my waist.
“I have to bring something up to you, and I’m not sure how to do it,” he said directly into my ear. “The important thing is that I want you to know that I’ll never make you do anything you don’t want to do, but that your participation would be… ideal.”
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as he spoke into my ear. Just being near his cold skin was enough to cover me in goosebumps. Even as he was giving me this speech of consent and not wanting to force me into anything, I knew I would do it. He had proven once before that even at his most untamed, he wouldn’t harm me. I had watched this creature toe the line between pleasure and pain so accurately that I felt I could trust him in damned near every situation.
“What exactly would I be participating in?” I asked as I probed for more details.
“It’s better I show you than tell you,” he insisted as he began to lead me down the hallway.
“Shouldn’t I get dressed really quickly?” I asked as we passed my bedroom door.
“Unnecessary,” he responded in his usual crisp voice.
If clothing was unnecessary, there was only one thing I could really assume he was leading me toward, so the biggest question waswherehe was leading me. Nox led me across the indoor balcony to the west wing of the house until we reached the end of the hallway. He reached over his head and pulled down on a rope, exposing the ladder leading up to the attic.
The attic, I knew, was where Thorn liked to spend his time—at least, when he wasn’t watching me and Nox have sex, or stomping around outside my bedroom door at night.
“Oh,” I said with a heavy hint of concern.
“I know,” Nox said, letting go of the rope. The door to the attic slowly closed on its spring hinges as the pale man turned to face me and gently gripped both my shoulders. “I meant what I said before, Logan. If youdo notwish in any way to go through with this, I won’t make you. Wouldn’t even consider it.”
I shifted my gaze to look just past him, over his shoulders, unable to hold his stare. This whole situation was odd, and I didn’t want Nox to catch me looking genuinely afraid. Not scared for my life, but afraid for what this implication meant for us. Was I just some sort of human sex dumpster to be used as they needed me? Was I dumber than I thought by letting Nox touch me like he had?
“Hey, now, look at me,” he said as he gently turned my chin back to center. “I can tell how you’re feeling, and it doesn’t feel great. Remember what I told you yesterday when he was looking in on us? That he was desperate for you?”
I nodded. How could I forget?
“Well, I wasn’t bullshitting you,” Nox explained. “Your being in this house has sort of skyrocketed Thorn into a place of mental and sexual maturity that none of us really understand. None of us know a lot about his kind, and even he wasn’t allowed to witness the heat rituals the males of his herd performed because he was too young back then.”
“Heatrituals?” I asked, trying to understand. “You mean like how a dog can go into heat?”
“Exactly like that,” Nox continued. “Except it’s a male thing for his kind. All of us are kind of working without a whole lot of information here.”
“So, you’re delivering me to him like some sort of ritual sacrifice?” I asked in a tone that hopefully made Nox keenly aware of how insane this sounded to me.
“He doesn’t even know I told you,” Nox said as he dropped his grip off my shoulders. “He might now if he’s hearing us talk, but I doubt it. He’s usually asleep during the day.” The shadow-man was doing his best to make sure he was covering all his bases and delivering this proposal in a way that wouldn’t make me run for the hills, or at least back to my bedroom.
Nox let out a mighty sigh and covered his face with both hands.
“This was a stupid idea,” he said through his palms. “I shouldn’t have done this.”
I reached for his wrists and pulled his hands off his modelesque face.
“I’m not going to say ‘no’ or ‘yes’ quite yet,” I assured him. “I just want to know as many details as you can give me about what the hell is going on. Tell me everything you know.”
Nox dropped his shoulders and explained in detail everything he, Thorn, and Ruse had discussed about Thorn’s situation. The story of it all did break my heart in a way, and I felt for Thorn. It was also a relief to hear how often and how strongly he had defended me since my arrival. I had no idea his temper tantrum outside my bedroom that first night had been due tojealousy.
“Look, I know he’s not as ‘humanoid’ as I am, and I know that might be a bit unnerving,” Nox said. “But the thing about Thorn is that he cares about you and your safety in a way I’ve only seen in the wildest of animals. If I had caused you harm yesterday, he would have made me pay for that mistake. Much of me suspects that’s why he was watching us, not because he’s some sort of Peeping Tom weirdo.”
“Will you stay with me?” I asked with wide eyes.
I couldn’t believe I was even considering Nox’s request. Neither of us was entirely certain what was expected of me, or what would happen once I entered Thorn’s attic lair, but if Nox was right and Thorn looked at me in such a way, I couldn’t be in any genuine danger—at least I hoped.
“The entire time,” Nox promised as he pulled me in for a hug.
As he released me from his embrace, he returned to pull down the ladder to the attic, and I followed him up the rungs one by one.
